Falling From Space

In 1960, Capt. Joseph Kittinger stepped off the Excelsior platform that was higher than 31 km above the surface of the earth. Capt. Kittinger fell for approximately 4 minutes and 36 seconds, reaching a maximum speed of 614 miles per hour!

Why It Matters

Any object that is dropped near the surface of the earth will accelerate towards the earth. If you were to ignore the effects due to air resistance, every object that is dropped would fall at the same rate. This is known as the acceleration due to gravity and any object that is falling at such a rate is said to be in free fall. By looking at Newton’s 2nd law, we define the weight of an object by the mass of an object multiplied by the acceleration due to gravity on the object.

The acceleration due to gravity only acts along the axis which is perpendicular to the surface of the earth. The acceleration due to gravity is another one of the fundamental concepts of classical physics. From objects moving in two dimensions, torque and even work, the concept of free fall and the acceleration due to gravity must be taken into consideration when looking at real world applications.